Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1887-12-24

THE Cumb&land Times goes
wrong with more facility than any
paper on our list of bright exchanges.
Monday it said:
The Frostburg JOURNAL, which, few
months ago. stood sponsor for the political
movement which in the primaries of the
county raised the shbolleth of Save the
Canal" now throws cold water on the Times
efforts on behalfof that imperiled waterway.
1t ventures to insinuate that the usefulness
Of canals is past. That their day is done,
their glory departed and their sun forever set
The JOURNAL wants to deal with
this matter briefly as possible, be-
cause it is an affair of no great con-
Germ. Were it not that its consist
ency is impeached it is likely the
question wonld go with the canals
fate whenever the State abandons
it to the guardianship Of the United
States. The JOURNAL has always
beId, expressly and otherwise, tnaJ
the canal is the ward of the Common
wealth of Maryland
80 that last fall, when the last of
the ring dynasty surrendered his
$4,500 presidency for Il $4,000
comptrolership, when the peoples
interest in it was endangered by the
aggressions of Il West Virginia cor
poration, and when Mr.. Whytr
preached the doctrine Of IL new con
stitution as indispensable to its sal
vation, beginning at ToNsontown,
for one the JOURNAL felt there was
something wrong somewhere, and it
did not hesitate to say so.
For other reasons the JOURNAL
had favored constitutional con-
vention, and it was glad when Mr..
Whyte fortified the argument in its
behalf by hanging the preservation
Of the canal upon the adoption Of the
proposal.
But what was the outcome? The
people Of AIlegany county, to whom
the work is Of vital concern, speaking
comparatively, either did not want
the canal saved that way, or they dis
trusted the savers. They gave
majority Of S35 against the ''0nly"
measure that would redeem it from
the clutches of the West Virginia
corporation, and in the State the
majority ran away out into the
thousands.
This is not ALL
Now that 1t was not saved by the
''ORly' means given among men we
hear that "the lamp still holds out
to burn;" that Messrs. Baughman
and Archer, endorsed by Whyte-all
Solons, especially Baughmans-say
the thing Can be done ''easy as rolling
off Il log"
The JOURNAL does not deem
description Of the proposed method
essential here, but wants to say to the
Times that last falls way of salvation
is not this winters way, and Uice
veYSu that there was something in
the great popular rebuke of the cam
paign proposal which has occasioned
change Of heart among the leaders
something which said "halt,' and
they halted.
AS to the intimation Of inconsist-
ency, therefore, the JOURNAL replies
that it stands now where it did last
fall. ItwouId preserve the canal as Il
waterway, because Maryland in terests
will be thus more certainly sub
served. No fuss has been maize here
since the election about the safety of
the canal, because both Maryland and
West Virginia see that the rerroof
administered by the people to the
"0nly' way isadangerous thing to fool
with. The original plan of turning
it over to competing coal region,
which gave rise to the JOURNALS
sponsorship of the political move
ment which raised the shibboleth of
"Save the Canal" is dead. The
people killed it. The canal was
saved then and there.
The funny part of the business is
that the Times, uniformly and
omin0usly silent all last fall about
its "imperiIed waterway" woke up
after the election and set about saw
ing something that is not in danger
any longer.
The JOURNAL warned in time Of
peril, and is satisfied when that time
is safely passed. 1t sounded the
alarm when rival coal region threat
ened to strengthen its power to COM
,,ata with us yrHn1ly Mt mn. pJDpD sp